Faculty support for the objectives of university-industry relations versus degree of R&D cooperation: The importance of regional absorptive capacity

The growing importance of regions in the analysis of innovation and the pressure on European universities to interact with their environment justify this article. It argues that faculty support for the objectives of university-industry relations (UIR) does not vary across disciplines and does not respond to university encouragement in a region with low absorptive capacity. These results are in contrast with those obtained in studies of technology leading countries like the USA. Furthermore, incentives for UIR may generate unpredicted dynamics while instruments to cooperate are not significant. Finally, support for the objectives of UIR should not be confused with the degree of R&D cooperation. The former is sensitive to university age while the latter is sensitive to gender, discipline, commitment to R&D and university encouragement. Empirical evidence is obtained from a sample of faculty from the Valencian Community (Spain) and analysed through a set of models for discrete choice.     

Certain Changes to Training Companies Due to Social Web Development

Companies use many different marketing strategies in order to make their products known and place their corporate images and brandings in the market. Besides, nowadays, being on the Intemet is a must for every company striving for success. The development and implementation of Web 2.0 or social web are threatening the basis of the ways of mixing with other people. A company devoted to open and distance learning, such as Master-D Corporation, a clear example of how a proper and planned use of the different possibilities offered by the Web 2.0, based on blogs, allows a company to achieve bigger market shares and brand positioning following the win-win principle. Blogs are, undoubtedly, channels of communication that prove the power of attraction of good information. These changes are affecting everybody and, in particular, companies and institutions related to people＇s education, teaching and training for their inclusion in society and labor market. This essay brings up some reflections in two ways： The first one deals with some reasons why education is also related to the concept of ＂company＂; and the second one deals with how these changes generated by Web 2.0 are affecting some training companies, represented in this case by Master-D,     

End-user oriented strategies to facilitate multi-organizational adoption of emergency management information systems

Response to large-scale emergencies is a cooperative process that requires the active and coordinated participation of a variety of functionally independent agencies operating in adjacent regions. In practice, this essential cooperation is sometimes not attained or is reduced due to poor information sharing, non-fluent communication flows, and lack of coordination. We report an empirical study of IT-mediated cooperation among Spanish response agencies and we describe the challenges of adoption, information sharing, communication flows, and coordination among agencies that do not share a unity of command. We analyze three strategies aimed at supporting acceptance and surmounting political, organizational and personal distrust or skepticism: participatory design, advanced collaborative tools inducing cognitive absorption, and end-user communities of practice.     

Estimating fat-free mass in elite youth male soccer players: cross-validation of different field methods and development of prediction equation

This study determined the most effective field method for quantifying fat-free mass (FFM) in elite youth male soccer players compared to dual X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) values and to develop prediction equations for FFM based on anthropometric variables. Forty-one male elite-standard youth soccer players, ages 16.2–18.0 years, undertook FFM assessments including bioelectrical impedance analysis, and different skinfold-based prediction equations. DXA provided a criterion measure of FFM. Correlation coefficients, bias, limits of agreement, and differences were used as validity measures, and regression analyses to develop soccer-specific prediction equations. Slaughter et al (1988), Durnin and Wormersley (1974), and Sarria et al (1998) equations showed the lowest biases, and no significant, standardized, and substantial differences against DXA. The new youth soccer-specific anthropometric equation explained 91% of the DXA-derived FFM variance using three circumferences, eight skinfolds, and one bone breadth. All field methods compared in this study may not be adequate for estimating FFM in elite youth male soccer players, except the equations of Slaughter et al (1988), Durnin and Wormersley (1974), and Sarria et al (1998). We recommend the use of the new soccer-specific equation proposed in this study as a valid alternative to DXA to quantify FFM among elite youth male players.     

Instrucción,aprendizaje e interacción profesor-alumno. Un estudio de observación en el aula

Resumen

Este trabajo aborda el estudio de la incidencia de los procesos de enseñanza en el aumento de conocimientos y destrezas de un grupo de niños paralíticos cerebrales en los primeros ciclos de enseñanza formal. Ello se hace a través de la puesta en relación de la ganancia que los sujetos manifiestan en sus rendimientos en una prueba criterial con datos de observaciones sobre las actividades realizadas en el aula. Los resultados muestran la existencia de un progreso en todas las áreas evaluadas, sin que parezca influir el nivel de afectación motora o del habla. Se observa que sólo menos de un tercio de las tareas escolares se plantean por encima del nivel de conocimientos previos del alumno, en estos casos la forma de interacción entre alumno y profesor toman características peculiares que permiten caracterizar la forma de trabajo en la zona de desarrollo próximo.     

Psicología y Didáctica de las Ciencias de la naturaleza ¿concepciones alternativas?

Resumen

El presente trabajo analiza las aportaciones recientes de la Psicología y Didáctica de las Ciencias de la Naturaleza a la investigación del aprendizaje y la enseñanza de las Ciencias. Los puntos de partida y los intereses iniciales de ambas aportaciones son, sin duda, diferentes. Mientras la Psicología ha estado más centrada en los procesos generales del pensamiento científico, la Didáctica ha estudiado sobre todo las «concepciones alternativas» mantenidas por los alumnos en áreas específicas. Pero esta diferente perspectiva no ha impedido la existencia de datos y preocupaciones crecientemente comunes. Estos objetivos comunes estarían relacionados no sólo con los rasgos característicos de la «ciencia intuitiva» de los alumnos, enraizados en la naturaleza del conocimiento cotidiano estudiado por la psicología cognitiva, sino también con la naturaleza y los mecanismos del cambio conceptual, que debe vincularse a los contextos de uso del conocimiento científico, tanto escolares como cotidianos.     

A survey of allocation rules for the museum pass problem

In this paper, we consider the problem, introduced by Ginsburgh and Zang (Games Econ Behav 43:322–325, 2003), of sharing the income from the sell of passes that allow the entrance in a set of museums. First, we recall some allocation rules and some properties presented in Ginsburgh and Zang (Mus Manag Curatorship 19:371–383, 2004), Béal and Solal (Rev Econ 61:1099–1109, 2010), Estévez-Fernández et al. (2010), and Casas-Méndez et al. (Eur J Oper Res 215:161–168, 2011). Then, we discuss them, finding the properties satisfied by each allocation rule. The analysis of a real-world example concludes the paper.     

For English,Press 1: International Students' Language Preference at the Reference Desk

Non-native, English-speaking undergraduate and graduate students were directly surveyed about their language preference at an academic reference desk. Most prefer reference transactions initially in English but, if uncertain about the outcome, would like follow-up help in their primary language. Differences by academic level and country of origin were observed.